Forgiven
by Dread Pirate Rinja
Summary: Sometimes, he hates fighting Hollows... and sometimes, she hates letting him. Implied IchiRuki.


_Warnings: mild language and violence._

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_Written for and entered into MediaMiner's Summer Stars Mini-Contest 2005.  
Tied for 2nd Place_

_Contest Requirements: _

Oneshots (1000 to 5000 word limit) may be fanfictions or originals but **must** include all three of these elements in addition to the theme of the Tanabata festival:

1. A water fight  
2. A kiss on a bridge under the stars  
3. A shooting star

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_Disclaimer: Bleach and all affiliated characters belong to Kubo Tite and any company holding license to its title. Used without permission for no profit._

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**Forgiven**  
_(reposted)_

_The yells were drowned out with the sounds of traditional music from the festival down the street. Nobody heard as a body slammed into the concrete half-pipe of the man-made waterway, the gasped yelp swallowed by the racket of drums and people shouting gleefully._

A silhouetted young man limped his way across the pedestrian overpass – first one step, and then two in short succession – as water and blood dribbled in his wake. Dressed in traditional garb and muttering curses angrily, he would appear to be drunk from the July festivities… to those who could see him. The moon hid behind a patch of clouds as if afraid to face the irate energy flowing freely from the young man in waves.

"I-Ichigo…?"

"_Ichigo!" she screamed after him as he took another blow. He coughed, gagging on the spray of polluted river-water that accompanied the jarring blow from the Hollow._

He whirled, a glare hidden by shadows across his drawn features as he stared down the young woman behind him.

"This is all your fault, you know," he snapped. "If you hadn't _insisted_ on going after that Hollow during the festival, I wouldn't have needed to use the river to chase him down."

_The Hollow roared, its piercing cry ringing in the ears of all who knew of the post-death lingerers. It wanted his soul; he wanted its salvation. Only one would win that evening, and he sure as hell didn't want to end up as a Hollow's main course._

"And dozens would have died had we waited," she reminded him patiently. "Look, Ichigo… I didn't want this to happen to you tonight. I understand that—"

"How could you possibly understand, Rukia?" Ichigo interrupted, red-faced. "You don't really understand us 'weak humans' and our traditions, or our culture. Hell, you don't even know what a fucking drinking straw is. As it was, I was lucky not to have our cover blown tonight in front of all those people."

The moon emerged from behind the cloud cover, blanketing the small shinigami's face with a soft light. At her wide-eyed expression, his demeanor softened.

"Never mind. I'm too tired to argue with you right now anyway." _'Besides, I wouldn't have survived that if you hadn't been there.'_

"_Damn you!" he spat back at the Hollow, forcing himself to stand on shaky feet and holding up his soul cutter in front of him protectively. "Why won't you die already?"_

"_I like meals with a bit of exercise beforehand," the Hollow replied, inching forward. "You shall be quite tasty, I think!" And it charged._

"_Ichigo!"_

They continued to walk in silence, moving quietly through Tokyo's many intersections, Ichigo continuing to limp from a hard blow he'd taken to his hip during his river-bound battle. Rukia could tell by his furrowed brow and whispered curses that he was in pain – surprising to both of them, as Ichigo rarely had pain issues in his shinigami form. She mused that it had to do with his heightening spiritual awareness, and part of her couldn't help but feel at least a little pleased – and somewhat jealous – with his growth. And as much as she wanted to heal him, he was in one of his stubborn moods, or he was embarrassed. Part of her wanted to tell him it wasn't really a kiss, although the other part of her noticed that he hadn't protested. At this rate, she probably wouldn't be able to touch him for hours, but at least he hadn't died.

_Crimson spattered across the water's murky surface, quickly washed away by the following splashes. The orange-haired shinigami held his ground – and the soul cutter – despite the dripping wound in his side, despite the sharp pain shooting down his thigh. The Hollow shrieked as the soul cutter's spiritual force shattered its mask, radiating from the tip of the sword between its glowing red eyes._

Suddenly, he stopped, snagging a bus stop bench's back with a white-knuckled grip, his other hand gripped over his mouth. He was unable to muffle the rasping wet coughs that were wrenched from his chest. His hand came away covered in mucous-laden water, and he hadn't noticed Rukia pounding on his back to force more debris from his lungs.

"You should sit down," Rukia admonished softly. "I don't want you to catch pneumonia after I spent all that energy trying to make sure you didn't die on me." _'We're lucky it's the middle of summer, or he'd be in huge trouble.'_

He nodded as he let her help him rest, too tired to offer a retorted quip of his own. As much as he wanted to be angry with the small shinigami, he couldn't keep up the act. She'd saved his life. For now, he was content to rest as she stared skyward, watching for shooting stars.

_The Hollow shattered into thousands of sparkling fragments and scattered, like fairy dust on the wind. Ichigo snorted as he watched the spectacle before he collapsed with a splash into the river. Rukia wasted no time rushing forward from her vantage point to dive into the water, searching for the fallen young man. Fortunately, the water wasn't deep, and she quickly found his hand and pulled him from the muddy clutches of the water and onto the nearest bridge. Two fingers went to his throat, feeling for a pulse, and finding none._

"Can… can shinigami really die?" he asked suddenly, breaking the silence between them. Rukia's head shot up with a startled expression. "I mean, we're kind of dead already, but… you know… what's _after_ Soul Society?"

She didn't know how to answer something that she hardly knew much about herself. What _was_ life like after Soul Society?

_With a reserved manner, she rolled him onto his side, pressing firmly on his belly as water trickled from his mouth. Repeating the process several times, she noted he hadn't started breathing again yet. Stifling the panicked lump rising in her throat, she shifted him to his back again and pinched his nose closed, tilting his head back._

'_This will look pretty bizarre to any normal human passing by,' she noted wryly in an attempt to keep herself calm. Closing her eyes, she lowered her face down to his._

"I guess it's how most humans here view death on earth," she cautiously replied. "It's viewed with just about as much uncertainty as most humans feel about going to Soul Society."

He snorted. "Kinda ironic, isn't it?"

She nodded slowly. "I guess you could say that."

_One breath, two breaths, press down on his chest fifteen times in rapid succession. The basics of CPR were pounded into all young shinigami as part of their training – even the land of the dead had some fear of the after-death life. Thirty seconds passed, no sign of life yet. Had to keep trying._

'_Come on, Ichigo – you _can't_ do this to me!'_

Ichigo suddenly hissed, curling in around his side with a light cough. When Rukia reached over to touch his shoulder, he let her.

"We should find Kon soon," she said, echoing his thoughts.

"Aa," he grunted.

"But before you go back to your normal body, you'll have to let me tend your wounds if you don't want them hurting even worse in your human body."

He didn't answer at first, but a moment later he nodded his agreement.

_Another thirty seconds, and his eyes shot open, staring up into her close face. He suddenly coughed, rolling to his side to spit out excess fluid. After several gasping breaths and wet coughs, she helped him sit up, a confused look on his face. He searched her expression, the unspoken communication buzzing. Close call. Too close._

_And they both realized – she had…_

_She blushed._

Ichigo closed his eyes for a moment as he felt Rukia's gentle hands upon his side, warm energy flowing from her palms and mending his wounds with her unworldly expertise. Her brow furrowed lightly in concentration as she focused, and when Ichigo opened his eyes once more, he could see small beads of sweat forming. Another moment, and he felt a little stronger. She pulled away and wiped the remnants of his blood from her hands and onto the hem of her skirt.

"I'm not sure about the debris in your lungs, but I think your father will be able to handle that," she stated with a clinical air, still staring at where his wound had been. "You should be fine otherwise, I think."

He gazed into her distracted eyes as he pulled himself off the bench, stretching dramatically and noting with joy that he didn't ache quite so badly. The joy faded as Rukia stumbled when she tried to join him. His large hand grasped her small one before she could fall, and he gracefully pulled her to her feet… against him. For a moment they stood there staring into each others' eyes, until they realized the proximity. Both parties blushed and took a step back, but Rukia's wobble had Ichigo's steadying hand on her shoulder in no time. Without a word, he lifted her lithe form onto his back before she could protest.

"Let's go home," he stated gruffly.

She nodded against his back, too weary to argue against him. With a humored smile, she noted the role reversal as Ichigo set off in a brisk jog back to the Kurosaki clinic. He still limped slightly on his injured hip, sending a pang of guilt through her gut.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her breath tickling the back of his neck.

Ichigo snorted. "You're forgiven," he gently replied, though he knew he was the one who should be apologizing. She already knew that, and nodded in reply against his back as she drifted off to a weary sleep.

_'You're forgiven.'_

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_Fin._

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_Thanks again to Nela for beta reading this for me! -luffluff-_

_The action writer in me screamed in injustice after I wrote my Chrno entry. XD This piece essentially incorporates the method in which I really wanted to use the contest elements, and Bleach seemed like an easier fandom to use action as a springboard for 'romance'. Hehe. I had a lot of fun writing this, though I'm really surprised that it did well in the contest! Oh, and this is my first attempt in the Bleach fandom. X3_

_Comments are always appreciated._


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